Bryan Morris wrote:I've started feeding based on the 3% factor as the dog is just 5 months but have read somewhere that a dog that young should be eating much more than that? Is this really so? If so, what formula should I then use as determining the amount of food I should provide for the dog?

for puppies, you should be feeding 2-3% of their estimated adult bodyweight.

I just want to chime in for a min here......My girl Bella is on a "cancer diet", so her needs are a bit different. She gets no starch and nothing that will turn to sugar (carrots,corn,,,no grains whatsoever)...What I feed is,,,,I buy whole chickens and grind them (grinders are expensive, but I don't worry @ splinters. It's totally worth the investment of a good commercial grade grinder otherwise your arm will want to fall off. 1 hp does the trick). 10% organ meat, 1 ground almond per 10 lbs weight, and vegies,,,they need their fiber, and will help loosen the stool (just think of how you feel when you strain) besides fiber there are many vitamins they get as well. I also buy cans of sardines in water, rinse, and put in the mix 2x a week. She gets egg 2x a week as well. This is what I do in a nutshell and she does really well,,,,and it's probably as expensive as a good kibble to do. Good luck,,,,and feel very good about feeding RAW......

What do you guys think about Darwins Natural RAW? I've just stumbled on this and was thinking of trying it. I don't have the time to do the actual RAW, like cutting/grinding everything, the prep for it and such... so was looking for a good RAW that was already prepped for me. Any suggestions would be awsome too!

Curly_07 wrote:What do you guys think about Darwins Natural RAW? I've just stumbled on this and was thinking of trying it. I don't have the time to do the actual RAW, like cutting/grinding everything, the prep for it and such... so was looking for a good RAW that was already prepped for me. Any suggestions would be awsome too!

The pricing isn't really an issue. I also just found Natures Variety raw...i like the organic chicken frozen diet. For curly she would get 7.5 oz/a day acording to their chart, so that would cost me about $115/month for Curly. I found a local pet boutique by my house that carries it. It's cheaper than the Darwins I found earlier. I'm going to pick up the Natures Variety after work today and try it...

Curly_07 wrote:The pricing isn't really an issue. I also just found Natures Variety raw...i like the organic chicken frozen diet. For curly she would get 7.5 oz/a day acording to their chart, so that would cost me about $115/month for Curly. I found a local pet boutique by my house that carries it. It's cheaper than the Darwins I found earlier. I'm going to pick up the Natures Variety after work today and try it...

sure - give it a go. My only beef (ha!) about NV is that there is a TON of stuff in them.

We just started feeding raw and Leo goes absolutely nuts for the chicken. I had a question about what was suggested to us from an owner of a pet food store who sells pre packaged raw foods, and feeds her dogs raw meats. She told us since we wanted to start feeding raw, we should start off by just feeding chicken backs (removing excess fat and such) for about a week because they are easier to digest for the dogs. Then, feed chicken backs in the morning and chicken leg quarters and an egg if you want for dinner for the next few days. Then after about a week and a half introduce other meats.

Is this ok? I've been reading a lot on here and it seems like I should be feeding organs and such as well? Or is this fine for introducing him to raw? I noticed he hasn't had much water at all in the last 2 days, I'm not sure if this is a problem. Going from dry kibble I imagine there's a lot more moisture in the chicken, and he isn't a heavy drinker to begin with. Let me know if this is ok, thanks in advance!

That doesn't sound like too much bones but it's hard to tell anything else without acutally seeing the poop. Large amounts of chickn fat can give poop a yellow color but a game hen doesn't have much fat.

KittyNyanNyan wrote:Today she had a fish with an egg, yesterday she had a cornish game hen with liver, gizzard, heart, etc.